1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system which manages operation information of image forming apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
A management system in which a management server manages image forming apparatuses is discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-079003. In the management system, a monitoring apparatus interfacing between image forming apparatuses and the management server detects replacement and setup change of an image forming apparatus under monitoring. Specifically, the monitoring apparatus compares identification information (media access control (MAC) address) of image forming apparatuses under monitoring, stored in the monitoring apparatus, with identification information acquired from an image forming apparatus to detect replacement of an image forming apparatus under monitoring. Then, the monitoring apparatus deletes information about the image forming apparatus detected to have been replaced, so that the information is not transferred to the management server.
In the above-mentioned management system, when the monitoring apparatus detects replacement or setup change of an image forming apparatus under monitoring, transmission of its operation information to the management server is not performed. This means that the management server cannot manage necessary information for, for example, accounting processing based on the use of the image forming apparatus.
In this case, the management server may appropriately manage operation information based on a serial number (hereinafter referred to as S/N) of image forming apparatuses. However, even if the management server manages operation information based on the S/N, it is not guaranteed that the S/N is unique for each apparatus since each vendor may use the same S/N for image forming apparatuses from different vendors.
Further, for example, even if the management server manages operation information based on the media access control (MAC) address, replacing a network interface card (NIC) itself having a MAC address setting makes it difficult to appropriately manage operation information. Therefore, there is demand for such a mechanism that the management server flexibly manages operation information in a consistent way even when an image forming apparatus is replaced or moved or when a NIC is replaced.